The Tesla Supercharging stations are all over the map with over 700 locations in the US and Canada, but now there will be even more and these will be made for all EV models to be able to use. The US Government has already passed legislation that will allow charging stations to be built in many of the states across the country, which will make it much easier for us to buy EV models and know that we can travel outside of our hometowns to enjoy the ride and be able to charge up when we get wherever we’re headed.

The idea has both romantic and practical implications. The romance has to do with how much we love the idea of being able to take a road trip and see the country from the highway. With this in mind, there will be 48 new national EV charging networks which will be cover nearly 25,000 miles of highway across 35 states in the US. This will allow those of us who want to drive an EV model to be able to enjoy our vehicles without the need to stay close to home for fear of our charging range expiring.

These charging stations are required under the 2015 FAST Act and manufactures have already agreed to help make this a reality. Nissan, GM and BMW have all stepped up and said they would help the public utilities providers in the areas for the charges, make this become the reality of the future. This partnership will help bring fast charging stations to at least 28 states. The cost for this plan is $2.4 billion and is part of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program that is also part of the Fast Act.

There are already several of these stations up and ready to use and all that needs to happen is the signage needs to be put up. These stations are located in areas where EV models are sold the most and will be the first phase of the project. The next phase will be those stations that need to be built and begin operation which is a majority of the network. There are some states that are part of this project that don’t have any EV highway corridors yet such as Minnesota, Missouri, Idaho, Iowa and Utah. These states will have to build the EV stations in order to bring them to a reality.

This commitment to the EV market and the infrastructure required to bring EV charging to the road is a step forward for cleaning up the air and allowing those of us who want to drive EV only models to be able to do so. The EV market has been growing with models that now have longer rangers and shorter charging times. Possibly we will look back and think about a time when gasoline was what we used to power our vehicles, but this won’t happen until a full infrastructure is in place, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.